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LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil announced that the league has signed a deal with a new lead investor. The private equity backing replaces funding from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), securing operations through 2030.

Details of the deal, including financial terms, the investor's identity, and closing timeline, remain private for now.

With a lead investor in place, O'Neil also noted that more than a dozen additional parties have shown 'strong interest' in serving as minority investors.

PIF had invested more than $5 billion into the league since its launch in 2022.

Why This Matters

Just a week ago, most people thought LIV Golf was done.

As you can see, things can change fast.

But with the ambiguity around the deal, it's difficult to see how much of LIV’s future is real versus smoke and mirrors.

Let’s dive into some of the details.

To start, the numbers aren’t pretty.

The league has lost $8.50 for every $1 invested in the product.

PIF, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, has pumped over $5-$6 billion into it without any major movement on viewership.

Not to mention, the league currently owes its players more than $250 million in unpaid contract obligations.

So why will this resurgence be different?

In short, no one knows as of now.

But O'Neil has outlined several changes to the league's overall structure.

Under the LIV 2.0 vision, the reorganized league plans include:

On paper, this all sounds like a progressive, athlete-first model.

In reality, it's more complicated than that, especially as news broke that BC Partners, a global private equity and credit firm, is exploring a deal to lend money to the league.

That deal, structured as a private credit transaction, means BC would lend money to LIV, expecting repayment, not equity upside.

This ultimately means that players may own the league in name, but BC would hold the real leverage, which can create misaligned interests and instability long-term.

BC Partners is also an investor in GSE Worldwide, the sports agency that represents Bryson DeChambeau, among other professional golfers on the LIV Tour, though GSE has denied being involved in the reported BC-LIV deal.

As you can see, there are a lot of moving parts here, and the details become less clear the deeper we dive.

We could spend days dissecting this news, but with so many operational and financial questions still unanswered, LIV may not be dead, but but it isn't fully alive either.

• Axum Capital Partners Acquires Barcode. Axum Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Charlotte, NC, has agreed to acquire a controlling interest in BARCODE, a performance hydration company backed by NBA All-Star Victor Wembanyama, to support the company's next phase of growth. BARCODE was co-founded by NBA champion Kyle Kuzma. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed (more here).

• Troon Acquires Bobby Jones Links. Troon, a leading provider of golf and club-related leisure and hospitality services, announced the acquisition of Bobby Jones Links, an Atlanta, Georgia-based club management company. Founded in 2000 with two clubs, Bobby Jones Links now manages 34 facilities in 13 states. With this acquisition, Bobby Jones Links will continue to operate under the Bobby Jones Links brand, but with support and additional benefits of being part of the Troon family of brands. Financial terms were not disclosed (more here).

• X Games Sells Winter Franchise To Bay Area Investors. The X Games League has sold its sixth and, for now, final team, according to Sports Business Journal. The team was acquired by Jonathan Turner, a partner at VC firm Accel and lead independent director for Tottenham, and will represent the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe in the XGL’s upcoming winter competition. The Club will compete under the name X Games Club Golden State (“XC Golden State”). Financial terms were not disclosed (more here).

• USTA Ventures Invests In Rec. USTA Ventures, the USTA strategic investment initiative, has invested in Rec Technologies, an AI-driven platform modernizing the local recreation experience by simplifying court bookings and lesson registrations. USTA Ventures’ investment will help support Rec as it enhances the play experience for the millions of tennis players who currently play on public courts, with the goal of continuing the country-wide boom in grassroots tennis participation, according to the company. Financial terms were not disclosed (more here).

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• Genius Sports, Polymarket & Kalshi Announce Partnership. Genius Sports, a leading sports tech and data company, has struck new partnerships with both Polymarket and Kalshi, deepening a growing role in soccer prediction markets while positioning the sports-data company as a major infrastructure provider to the broader US prediction market sector. The agreements give both platforms access to official Genius Sports data that can be used to create and settle contracts, along with integrity and marketing services. Kalshi will receive real-time data across Genius’ full soccer portfolio, while Polymarket’s agreement adds league intellectual property and exclusive live-streaming rights for selected competitions (more here).

• New York Yankees & Polymarket Announce Partnership. Polymarket has landed a partnership with the New York Yankees, becoming an official sponsor of the iconic MLB franchise. As the official prediction market partner of the team, Polymarket will receive prominent branding inside Yankee Stadium throughout the remainder of the 2026 MLB season on LED digital signage and a rotating display behind home plate. The Yankees and Polymarket will also collaborate to offer exclusive in-person fan engagement experiences (more here).

• FutureSports & NHL Announce Partnership. FutureSports and the NHL announced an exclusive agreement. The deal provides FutureSports with official real-time NHL statistics, which the company will use to create new broad-based CME FutureSports Performance Indexes tailored to NHL teams and players. FutureSports Performance Indexes are benchmarks designed to systematically measure the collective performance of teams and athletes in notable sports leagues (more here).

• PSG & Google Gemini Announce Partnership. Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has landed a new commercial deal with Google. Under the deal, Google Gemini will become the club's official AI assistant, while the Google Pixel product becomes the club’s official smartphone. The Google Gemini element of the deal is aimed at helping PSG's internal communications and marketing teams develop engaging content, while the Google Pixel product will be used to "capture and share the emotion of the game." In addition, a dedicated 'Google space' will be introduced at Parc des Princes home stadium, with a focus on providing guests with the chance to view Google's range of AI products and solutions (more here).

• WNBA Cleveland Expansion Team Announces Name. The WNBA Cleveland expansion team has announced its team name. The Cleveland Sirens unveiled their new logo and branding for the expansion team that will join the WNBA in 2028. The Sirens will be the 16th WNBA team, the next in a rapidly expanding league. Cleveland was awarded an expansion team in June 2025, along with Detroit and Philadelphia, which will join the league in 2029 and 2030 (more here).

• JJ Watt Joins Base As An Investor & Partner. Base Power, a Texas-based energy company, announced that former NFL player JJ Watt is investing and partnering with the company that is bringing affordable, reliable energy to Americans. Watt is investing as part of Base's $1 billion Series D. Since publicly launching in 2024, Base now powers more than 30,000 homes across Texas, and recently expanded to Illinois. Watt has built a portfolio across sport and consumer brands and is an owner of Burnley Football Club. Base Power is his first investment in energy (more here).

• Derek Jeter Joins Alum As An Investor & Advisor. Hall of Fame baseball player Derek Jeter has joined Alum, a luxury real estate and hospitality brand that builds private members' clubs and condo-hotels in top college towns, as a brand ambassador, board advisor, and investor. Alum properties are developed adjacent to or in proximity to college sports venues, providing upscale condos for purchase and members’ club amenities in college town markets that usually lack a deep bench of high-end accommodations. The company currently plans to scale to between 30 and 40 developments (more here).

• PE Executive Announced As The Next MLS Commissioner. Major League Soccer owners voted to name LAFC co-owner and private equity executive Larry Berg as the next MLS commissioner, succeeding Don Garber on January 1st, 2027. Berg is a former senior partner at Apollo Global Management. He was also LAFC's managing owner for four years and has been a part of the club's ownership since it launched in 2018. He will sell his ownership stake before he becomes commissioner. Garber will transition to a role as chairman (more here).

• Former Intel Executives Launch Youth Sports Startup. Two former Intel executives have teamed with sports industry veterans to launch Rule42 Sports Technology Group, an AI-powered sports technology startup. Renée James, former Intel president and co-founder of Ampere Computing, and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, former chief executive of Intel Products, are leading the venture, which aims to help amateur, high school, and underserved youth athletes catch the attention of college recruiters and professional scouts (more here).

• Churchill & NYRA Launch Thoroughbred Championship Series. Churchill Downs Incorporated $CHDN ( ▲ 1.13% ) and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced the creation of the Thoroughbred Championship Series, a new six-race competition beginning in 2027 that will establish an annual season-long championship for America's leading three-year-old Thoroughbreds. The series will bring together Thoroughbred racing's most iconic venues, including Churchill Downs Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, in a season-long championship that begins with the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and culminates with a championship race at Churchill Downs in September (more here).